Skipping Ropes

ABSTRACT

Skipping ropes are described with angled handles. One usually longer portion ( 1 ) is held between palm and fingers. A second portion ( 2 ) is angled and has a swivel mounted rope ( 5 ) projecting from its end. When skipping, the hands can be held with the palms facing the skipper&#39;s thighs, but with the rope ends pointing outwards. This is a more comfortable skipping position than the customary one with the hands splayed outwards.

This invention relates to skipping ropes.

The skipping rope is one of the oldest and best-known human exercisedevices. As a child's plaything, it maintains popularity through theages and across cultures. However, it is also used as a serious exercisedevice by many who wish to keep healthier and fitter, and particularlyby those for whom the exercise of skipping develops particular musclestrength and tone, most notably (but not exclusively) boxers.

International Publication WO 01/56660 discloses skipping ropes whichhave, in place of the conventional generally elongate handle in linewith each end of the rope, a T-shaped handle with the rope attached inswivellable fashion to the bottom of the vertical stroke of the T. Thecrosspiece of the T is held essentially in the palm of the hand with thefingers curled round it, and the vertical portion of the T extendsbetween two of the skipper's fingers. This enables skipping to becarried out with the hands held at the sides of the skipper in acomfortable position, i.e. with the palms essentially facing inwardstowards the skipper's thighs. This is much more comfortable than theconventional posture which needs to be adopted when using a classicalskipping rope where the skipper has to turn his or her hands outwardsinto a somewhat awkward position.

Although the skipping ropes with T-shaped handles described in theabove-noted specification work well for many users, some find themanipulation of a T-shaped handle uncomfortable and specifically somepeople do not like the feel of the shaft passing between their fingers.The present invention seeks to alleviate these disadvantages and provideskipping ropes with handles which, while they differ from numerous priorart suggestions, retain the ease of use of the skipping ropes describedin the publication noted above.

WO-99/38574 discloses skipping ropes with generally curved handles, butthese do not provide a comfortable skipping position for the skipper'shands.

According generally to the present invention, there is provided askipping rope consisting of a length of rope having a handle on each endwherein each handle is an elongate member bent or angled through atleast 60°, such that when one portion of the handle remote from the ropeis held by a skipper's hands aligned substantially horizontally andalong an axis extending transverse to the plane of the skipper's body,the other portion of the handle is directed outwards to direct the ropelaterally away from the skipper's body.

Preferably the handle is generally L-shaped, with the ends of the Lpreferably being angled one relative to the other by at least 75°, morepreferably at least 85°. Thus, the handle of the skipping rope accordingto the present invention may be conventionally thought of as “L-shaped”,with the normally shorter portion of the L directed laterally outwardsfrom the skipper's body and with the longer portion of the L held snuglybetween the palm and curled up fingers.

Such a construction may be used conveniently and comfortably with theangled shorter portion extending directly outwardly across the firstcarpal of the first finger.

If desired, the portion of the handle adjacent the end of the rope maybe narrowed or necked with the narrowing or neck then being locatablebetween the fingers of the hands of the users. This provides a somewhatsnugger fitting and reduces the risk that the handle can slip out of theskipper's hand generally in the direction of the elongate portion of thehandle which lies within the hand. Such movement is prevented if theusually shorter portion lies between the fingers, specifically usuallybetween the first carpals of two adjacent fingers, usually mostcomfortably the first and second fingers.

The handles of skipping ropes in accordance with the present inventionmay be made of any suitable material and by any convenient manufacturingprocess. Likewise, the swivel connection of the rope itself to thehandle may take any convenient known form, for example that of arotating ball in a socket as illustrated in Publication WO 01/56660.

The precise cross-section of the portions of the handle may vary. Acircular cross-section is generally easy to manufacture, but not alwaysideal to grip. The external contours of the handle may be configured tomatch better the contours of the hand which grips it. It is conceivableto manufacture the handles in two pieces, for example a curved or angledtubular metallic base with a slip-on grippable cover, e.g. made of asoft plastics or rubbery composition and dimensioned to be a snug pressfit over the tubular base, in the fashion of a handlebar grip for abicycle.

The precise shape and size of the handle are matters of design. Avariety of designs is illustrated by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings. In each of these, just one handle is shown, from which extendsa piece of flexible rope. The other handle matches the one shown and themajority of the rope between them extends over a suitable length—ofwhich just one end is shown.

Referring to FIG. 1, this shows a simple L-shaped handle consisting of alonger section 1 and a shorter section 2. Sections 1 and 2 mergetogether at a moulded angled corner generally indicated at 3.

Extending from the free end of section 2 is a rope 5 which is heldcaptive, e.g. by means of a knot in a ball 6 which is freely rotatablymounted in a cup-like socket at the end of section 2. The rope 5 isshown extending in the same direction as the end portion of section 2and the axis of the rope, and accordingly the end portion of the handle,is denoted 8. The axis of the main portion of the handle 1 is denoted 9and preferably the angle between axes 8 and 9 is around 90°.

In use, the two handles, one at each end of rope 5, are grasped by theuser with the sections 1 curled between their palm and fingers andsections 2 pointing outwardly. If desired, the handle can be used withsection 2 passing between the fingers of the user's hands, for exampleif FIG. 1 is taken as showing a perspective view from above of thehandle held in the skipper's left hand, the skipper's left forefingercan be located in position A and the middle finger of their left handlocated in position B as indicated on the drawing.

FIG. 2 shows an alternative embodiment where the main portion of thehandle is somewhat more broadly curved. Like portions to those shown inFIG. 1 bear like reference numbers. In contrast to the relativelyangular L-shape of FIG. 1, however, the handle shown in FIG. 2 is moregently rounded. Thus, from the rope, the handle consists of a shortsocket section 10, a waisted section 11, then a gently curved section 12and finally a relatively straight tail section 13. As before, the anglebetween the axis of 8 of the section 10 and the axis 9 of the section 13is preferably at least 75°, more preferably at least 85°. Likewise asbefore, if desired, the user may put two of his or her fingers eitherside of section 11, in the positions marked A and B.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show in each case alternative designs for the handle, inperspective, side, plan and end views.

1. A skipping rope consisting of a length of rope having a handle oneach end wherein each handle is an elongate member bent or angledthrough at least 60°, such that when one portion of the handle remotefrom the rope is held by a skipper's hands aligned substantiallyhorizontally and along an axis extending transverse to the plane of theskipper's body, the other portion of the handle is directed outwards todirect the rope laterally away from the skipper's body.
 2. A skippingrope according to claim 1 wherein the handle is generally L-shaped.
 3. Askipping rope according to claim 2 wherein the ends of the L are angledone relative to the other by at least 75°.
 4. A skipping rope accordingto claim 3 wherein the angle is at least 85°.
 5. A skipping ropeaccording to claim 1 wherein the portion of the handle adjacent the endof the rope is narrowed or necked to provide a narrowing or neck whichmay be located comfortably between the fingers of the hand of a user. 6.A skipping rope according to claim 1 wherein the swivel connection ofthe rope itself to the handle includes a rotating ball in a socket.
 7. Askipping rope according to claim 1 wherein the handle is formed havingexternal contours configured to match the contours of a hand.